JOHN LAURENS. THE CORRESPONDENCE OF CHARLES W. F. DUMAS; AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN HOLLAND. Charles William Frederick Dumas was a native of Switzerland, but he passed a large portion of his life in Holland, chiefly employed as a man of letters. He was a person of deep learning, versed in the ancient classics, and skilled in several modern languages, a warm friend of liberty, and an early defender of the American cause. About the year 1770, or a little later, he published an edition of Vattel, with a long preface and notes, which were marked with his liberal sentiments. When Dr Franklin was in Holland on his way to France, a short time before his return to his own country, at the beginning of the Revolution, he became acquainted with M. Dumas. Having thus witnessed his ability, his love of freedom, and his zeal in favor of America, he considered him a suitable person to act as agent in promoting our affairs abroad. When the Committee of Secret Correspondence in Congress was formed, towards the close of the year 1775, of which Dr Franklin was chairman, it was resolved to employ M. Dumas for executing the purposes of the Committee in Holland. A letter of general instructions was accordingly written to him by Dr Franklin in the name of the Committee, and from that time M. Dumas commenced a correspondence with Congress, which continued without interruption during the Revolution, and occasionally to a much later period. He acted at first as a secret agent, and after John Adams went to Holland as Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States, M. Dumas performed the office of Secretary and translator to the Minister. On the departure of Mr Adams for Paris, to engage in the negotiations for peace, M. Dumas remained in the character of _Charge d'Affaires_ from the United States. In this capacity he exchanged with the Dutch government the ratification of the treaty, which had been previously negotiated by Mr Adams. It will be seen by M. Dumas's correspondence, that his services were unremitted, assiduous, and important, and performed with a singular devotedness to the interests of the United States, and with a warm and undeviating attachment to the rights and liberties for which they were contending. Congress seem not to have well understood the extent or merits of his labors. He was obliged often to complain of the meagre compensation he received, and of the extreme difficulty with which he and his small family contrived to subsist on it. Both Mr Adams and Dr Franklin recommended him to Congress as worthy of better returns, but with little effect. This indifference to his worth and his services while living renders it the more just, that his memory should be honored with the respect and gratitude of posterity. M. Dumas was still living in 1791, when Mr John Quincy Adams went to Holland as Minister from this country, but he died soon afterwards at an advanced age. THE